WAFLW ROUND 16 REVIEW

Words Courtesy of Chris Pike

SWAN DISTRICTS 2.5 (17) lost to SOUTH FREMANTLE 3.2 (20)

South Fremantle and Swan Districts geared up for their finals appearances in the WAFLW by playing out a hard fought contest at Steel Blue Oval on Sunday, with the Bulldogs holding on to win by three points.

Both the Swans and Bulldogs were guaranteed of taking part in the finals no matter the result on Sunday afternoon at Steel Blue Oval, but with a win Swan Districts did have the chance to secure third position and a home first semi-final against East Fremantle.

South Fremantle was already guaranteed of a second-place finish and a finals double chance heading into the Sunday match up which would see the Bulldogs kick the first three goals of the contest.

It took until the last five minutes of the game for Swan Districts to kick a goal, but two in quick succession set up a thrilling finish before South Fremantle held on to win 3.2 (20) to 2.5 (17).

South Fremantle’s goals for the game were kicked by Hunter Cronin, Ella Matthews and Bethany Bond.

Teenager Renee Morgan continued the brilliant start to her WAFLW career late in the season for South Fremantle with another 23 possessions, eight marks, six tackles and four inside-50 entries.

Kahra Sprlyan also picked up 18 touches for the Bulldogs, Luci Gilchrist 17, Molly O’Hehir 17 and ruck Ariana Hetherington 16 along with 23 hit outs and three marks.

Taylah Edwards kicked both of the goals late in the contest for Swan Districts to go with her seven kicks, two marks and two inside-50 entries for the afternoon.

Ruby Mahony continued her strong form in the midfield for Swans by collecting another 15 possessions to go with six tackles and three marks.

Demi Liddle also finished with 14 disposals for the black-and-whites to go with five marks, five tackles and two inside-50 entries.

Indiana West collected another 13 possessions, Jaime Henry 13, Isabella Edgley 12, Kayley King 11 and Naomi Baker 11 to go with nine tackles.

While Swan Districts had the first two scoring shots of the game, they were behinds to Courtney Zappara and Cassie McWilliam and it was the Bulldogs who kicked the opening goal thanks to Ella Matthews.

South Fremantle then kicked the only goal of the second term as well thanks to Hunter Cronin and that meant the Bulldogs were leading by 11 points at the main break.

Neither team could manage a goal in the third quarter and then South Fremantle locked away the win with the first goal of the last quarter thanks to Bethany Bond.

However, Swan Districts did spring to life late. Having not kicked a goal the entire afternoon, Taylah Edwards delivered two goals in the last four minutes of the contest.

That made it a three-point game to set up a frantic finish but South Fremantle was just able to hold on for the three-point win in an entertaining affair between two finals bound teams.

In the Rogers Cup, South Fremantle then also defeated Swan Districts 8.5 (53) to 0.3 (3) at Steel Blue Oval on Sunday.

The Bulldogs confirmed second position and a finals double chance with the win with Annalie Polimeno, Rosie Anderson, Alira Fotu and Nicole Taylor-Thorpe kicking two goals apiece.